Wave Propagation in Piezoelectric Layered Media with Some Applications

Abstract

In this article we introduce a systematic methodology to investigate wave propagation in piezoelectric layered media. It is based on a matrix formalism and the con cept of the surface impedance tensor which relates the components of particle displace ment and the normal component of the electric displacement along a surface to the electric potential and the components of traction acting along the same surface. Once the surface impedance tensor for a single layer is calculated, a simple recursive algorithm allows the evaluation of the surface impedance tensor for any number of layers. As an example, the surface impedance tensor is used to find the dispersion curves for a bilaminated piezoelec tric plate. Also the dispersion curves for the subsonic interfacial waves when the plate is in contact with a nonconducting acoustic fluid is investigated. Floquet theory is also ap plied to study wave propagation when the layered medium is periodic.